Who Needs A GPS When We’ve Got Each Other!
If you’re ever lost in Kansas City, or you just need some good coffee, check out this place.
Despite the crack in my windshield, my road trip was proving to be a great thing. It was amazing “me time”, an excuse to eat a little bit of junk food, and I got to practice singing along with some of my favorite songs. All things made possible by a solo road trip.
But one of the bad things about driving alone is that there is no co-pilot for navigation. Sure, I had maps in the back seat. But, I don’t actually know how to read them. I have to be standing facing the same direction as the map, and even then I don’t get it. It’s a spacial thing.
Yes, I had directions and a GPS. But there are times when they don’t have all the information.
Like when I was in Kansas City, Missouri.
I was going along following my directions when I saw a big orange sign in front of the exit I was supposed to take. “Highway Closed.”
Google didn’t know. Neither did my GPS.
I remembered the advice I heard as a child about what to do if I was ever lost in a forest. Hug a tree. Which really means, stay where you are. Don’t keep going and get more lost.
There weren’t any trees on the freeway, but I figured that the city equivalent was to get off the freeway. Stop driving further into a place I didn’t know.
So that’s what I did. I took the next exit and drove to the first businessy looking place I could find. As luck would have it, there was a cute coffee shop. LatteLand.
I was pretty surprised by the reaction I got when I told the woman behind the counter that I was lost.
Yes, I was expecting that she’d try and help me out a little. But, that’s not what happened.
Everyone literally stopped what they were doing to help me get to Cincinnati. Customers who were relaxing in chairs with newspapers or chatting with friends jumped up to help.
The baristas and the customers all knew that the highway was closed and started talking to each other about what would be the best and easiest route to get me on my way.
Nobody was grumpy or annoyed, and they didn’t even try to get me to order some coffee. There was nothing in it for any of them.
One barista and a customer started drawing a map. Then a second barista thought that printing a map from the computer would be easier to read. So they took me back to their office and together they worked out a route with Google that went around the closure.
They printed out the map and the step by step directions. Then they told me how to get out of the shopping center and back on the freeway. Twice, just to make sure I got it.
I made it back to the freeway and onto toward my grandparents’ house in Cincinnati.
If it wasn’t for those kind people in LatteLand I might still be in Kansas City, driving around in circles. So, to those people: Thank you!
They showed me that even as strangers we really are a community. And when all the fancy technology breaks down or gives us wrong information, we still have each other. Sometimes the old fashioned strategies are the best. Ask your neighbor, they might have just the answer you’re looking for.
And when I had to drive through a crazy scary thunderstorm somewhere in Indiana, it was the people who got me through. I focused on the lights ahead of me and told myself I’d do what they do. They kept driving, so I did, too.
A few minutes of stress, and I calmed down and realized that I could handle it because I wasn’t really alone. We were all together on the road, in the storm. After a few minutes we left the storm behind and the sky went back to blue.
A big part of the reason that we can do things on our own is because we have each other.
Have strangers ever helped you out of a tough situation? Have you ever been lost in a strange city? What do you do when you are along and you need help?
Awwwww…so true Emma. I love it when you wrote “a big part of the reason we can do things on our own is because we have each other…”
No truer words have ever been spoken.
I live in Atlantic Canada, otherwise known as the Maritimes. And we Maritimers have a reputation for being overly friendly, helpful and welcoming. If you walk down our city streets, strangers walking by will smile and often say hello. It’s on the greatest reasons I love living here…you never feel alone.
I’ve been helped on the side of the road with a flat tire by a stranger who changed it for me. I’ve been given directions by countless baristas and convenience store staff. I’ve even been given a drive OUT of someone’s way when my car broke down…
Gotta luv the community of strangers…we really are one big family!
Love the road trip stories…keep em’ coming!
The kindness of strangers is pretty amazing! You have some great stories there. I love the sound of a place where people are friendly from the get-go. I’m starting to see that’s how things are in the south. You go out for a walk and everyone says hi to each other. In line at the store, people will step in and offer their advice. It reminds me a lot of living in South America. Maybe I’ll have to come visit Canada someday. When it’s not too cold.
Such a fantastic story, Emma, and an important reminder not to discount “people power.” This reminds me a bit of a Lisa’s post from a few weeks ago about the importance of knowing when to ask for help. It’s one of the lessons that I learned years back when I was working in community organizing — people (strangers and neighbors alike) are often friendlier and more helpful than we imagine them to be.
You’re right about people power, and about Lisa’s post. It can be hard to ask for help, but when you are lost in a strange town, there isn’t really another option. What struck me was how no one acted like it was a pain or even a bother at all to help me. When it comes down to it, we really are there for each other. It’s nice to get that reminder, isn’t it?
Ok, first off, another thing we have in common. I’m that way with maps too!! Also, people must sense this about me when I ask directions, or I look like Bambi, because kind people everywhere have drawn me maps, told me to hang a left at the barking dog and all together made sure I found me way.
I love people! And I love Latte Land! How cute is that!!
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one! My usual strategy when lost in my hometown is to call my step-mom because she knows where everything is. But, on the road that doesn’t work. And, you know, I think the hand drawn maps from kind strangers are always better than a GoogleMap or GPS directions! Here’s to people!
Hurray for people! I’ve been thinking a lot about technology lately, and how technology has eroded conversations. I do love Google Maps, but there’s nothing like a person to show you the way around a roadblock. The GPS is never as smart–or as charismatic–as a local person.
You are right about technology and conversations. That’s why I try and leave my cell phone in my purse when I am with people. I hate that image of everyone at the restuarant setting their phones on the table so they don’t miss anything, when really what they will miss is the time and interaction with friends. People are more fun than technology!
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